Alamo Drafthouse to Abbott: ‘We’ll kick your ass out’

Alamo Drafthouse is tweaking Attorney General Greg Abbott for apparently talking during a movie in a recent ad for his gubernatorial campaign.

Alamo Drafthouse is notorious for enforcing movie-going etiquette. Attorney General Greg Abbott is apparently no exception.

The Austin theater is threatening to boot the Republican nominee for governor if he ever tries to repeat on its premises what he did in a recent ad: Talk during a movie.

In the ad, Abbott is shown in a crowded theater, telling the viewer he may not know what it takes to make a movie, but he does know how much effort it takes to run for governor in Texas. He then urges the viewer to text his campaign to get involved.

In a video released Thursday, Alamo Drafthouse took the spot and added its own message at the end: “POLITICS ASIDE, GREG, DON’T TALK IN OUR THEATERS OR WE’LL KICK YOUR ASS OUT.”

“The only thing worse than talking in a theater is a politician talking in a theater telling you to text,” Tim League, Alamo Drafthouse founder and CEO, said in a news release. “This isn’t about where you sit on the political debate, it’s about when you sit in a movie theater. At the Alamo Drafthouse, we believe in two things: freedom and quiet cinemas.”

Asked to respond, the Abbott campaign found some common ground with the theater.

“United by freedom and a shared passion for sing-alongs, Greg Abbott looks forward to working with the Alamo Drafthouse to make Texas #1 in the nation for fewest movie talkers,” spokesman Avdiel “Abe” Huerta said in a statement.

Alamo Drafthouse may have originally picked on Abbott, but it didn’t let Wendy Davis, his Democratic opponent, off the hook, pressing her on Twitter for her position on its strict policy. The state senator’s account replied that although she spoke for 11 hours last year while filibustering a bill restricting abortions in Texas, she knows “it’s never OK to talk at the movies.”

.@drafthouse I may have spoken for 11 hours, but even I know it's never OK to talk at the movies. #DontTalk

This isn’t the first time League has tried to make an example out of someone. In 2011, Alamo Drafthouse played before some movies the angry voicemail of a customer who had been kicked out for texting during a movie despite more than one warning.

Alamo Drafthouse is also no stranger to using politicians to make its case. In 2005, the theater produced a PSA starring the late Gov. Ann Richards throwing out an obnoxious patron. It too included a stern warning: “DON’T TALK DURING THE MOVIE… OR ANN RICHARDS WILL TAKE YOUR ASS OUT.”